Minor fire at 16th and Chestnut Streets in Philadelphia

[giza]

Earlier tonight, around 8 PM I was on my way to the train station in Center City Philadelphia. Imagine my surprise when after one fire engine races by me, so did another, and another after that, and then stopped at the end of the street. It turned out that there was quite a bit of fire department activity at the 1600 Lofts on Chestnut Street.

The units stayed there for about half an hour, and then some of them began departing. I left at that point and went to catch my train. I did not see any evidence of injuries or fatalities.

omnibahumut reports from his blog that the 1600 lofts is occupied by AIPH students and received reports that the "second floor was filled with smoke". It is unclear at this time whether any AIPH students were involved. (He also ventured closer than I did has pictures taken of the actual building)

Comments

[omnibahumut.livejournal.com]

You could actually get pretty close if you wanted, they didn't seem to mind, so long as you weren't standing just outside the building.

A major concern with the students was not "is there really a fire?" but "will the sprinklers go off?".

[giza.livejournal.com]

Oh come on, everybody knows that sprinklers don't emit much water. (http://kodi-pup.livejournal.com/32318.html)